I enjoy hearing stories of other people’s travels. How they travelled to this country and saw this landmark, or went to that place and participated in that activity. As much as I love to hear the stories, I haven’t really found myself interested in following in the speakers’ footsteps.

Why?

I love local foods. If I am going to travel to the different prefectures of Japan, or areas in Southeast Asia, or even countries in Europe, I would love to eat the local foods in those areas. And I have just the places in mind.

Italy and France.

Hopping over to Italy to taste their amazing wines, bite into their crispy cotolettas, eat some fresh pasta dishes, and of course cheese! I have no idea how long I would stay there but once I’ve had my fill–literally–the sweet pastry haven of France would be next on my indulging adventure. Sitting outside a French cafe on a nice day eating mille-fueille, some souffle, or even a pettie four with a nice sparkling beverage. Photographing the amazing dishes I come across at each location I’m sure will delight my TopTia followers–myself included.

Yes, my adventure looks a bit on the Eat, Pray, Love side, however I would certainly welcome a travel buddy to come with me on the journey.

Day 7: Turn that imperfect action into a perfect (or close to it) action in 30 days.

This one was a bit tricky. Pinning down one or two tasks I would consider imperfect actions overwhelmed me. I was overwhelmed with the task of combating overwhelm.

I’ve decided to keep this one a bit lighter than my other posts. My imperfect action is promoting TopTia to Japanese in Japanese.

I won’t out myself by saying how many years I’ve studied Japanese, but I’d like to say I am pretty communicative in the language. The only problem is that I’m not perfect with communicating in the Japanese language. To me I see that as a problem.

One of the major projects TopTia does is assist restaurant businesses in communicating with their clients using food photography. Quiet a few businesses, both Japanese and non-Japanese owned, alienate a group of customers by not having a visual representation of their offered dishes. Some might not even have menus in the languages spoken by their customers. With the Olympics coming up, many visitors will simply opt for the more international friendly places to dine during their time in Tokyo.

In her daily challenge video, Natalie spoke about how being a perfectionist holds one back. This is my problem identified from Day #1. In my pursuit of approaching Japanese businesses, I find I am forcing myself to get the pitch perfect. From the use of polite Japanese to trading of business cards, I occasionally have held myself back from talking to businesses.

My Imperfect Action: Promoting TopTia to Japanese in Japanese.

Ways to Make it Close but not a Perfect Action: At the moment, I actually have key phrases, visuals, tools nice and polished. I think my issues is these resources get a bit dusty and forgotten pretty quickly.

So, for five minutes a day, I will read and keep the content fresh in my mind and at the ready. FIVE MINUTES! Perhaps I can ask my future mentorIlko Alexandroff. His Japanese is impeccable as well as his photography skills.

Day #6: Identify 1 to 2 key mentors who you would like to have in your life.

Day #6 everyone! Here’s the latest food for thought from Natalie. A quote from Zig Ziglar, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The message was very similar to one my mother used to always tell me. Inspirational people is a fairly new topic I’ve paid attention too. Before TopTia, I couldn’t really pinpoint a specific person I was inspired by as a photographer or an entrepreneur. That’s a very troubling realization. It told me that I didn’t know my industry well enough. It told me I had more research to do. Luckily, that is not the case as of September 2016. And I can think of the one person who I would be honor to learn from or gain knowledge from:

Ilko Allezandroff, is an energetic and supportive photographer from Bulgaria, who–just like myself–came to Japan and unexpectedly launched his career in photography. His journey from novice to professional mimics my own. He came to Japan with career goals completely unrelated to photography–just as I did. He purchased his first camera in Japan and focused on mastering the basics with one very simple lens–just as I did. And he enjoys playing with different lighting setups for his portraits–just as I do.

Aside from admiring his work on his website or Facebook page, I find his lighting setup maps amazing reads. I often study them and test them out for my own photo sessions.

If I were to ask him one question in person, I would ask, what was it like to transition from your original career path to the path of a photographer? Or What was it like in the beginning stages of your career as a photographer?

If I had a bit more time to ask, I would also love to ask how he found his team of assistants and HMUA and what kind of relationship his team has. My last question would definitely be, May I assist you on your next project?

See you all in the next post!

Best wishes!

—

“…I was about to graduate searching for a job in my field, I asked myself, is that what I really want to do, there I decided to do my best and put all my efforts in photography!” -Ilko Allezandroff

We are at the 50% mark of the 10 Day Challenge and I was excited to listen to the details of the fifth challenge. This challenge is to write down a daily itinerary or technique that will lead us to having more successful days. This one is also another stop and think challenge for me!

Before leaving my previous job, I had a simple routine schedule. For me, having a routine required little mental effort in figuring out how to go about my day:

1) Go to school.

2) Teach class between second and sixth period.

3) Prepare for the next day.

4) Go home.

Of course my day wasn’t nearly as cut and dry as the list insinuates. The routine was simply the backbone of my day.

So, as an entrepreneur with no structure schedule, how can set myself up for daily success?

Daily Morning Walks–This is a must, just as I mentioned in my Day #3 post, it is imperative, I boost my energy levels and spirits at the very beginning of the day. The morning walk to my local shrine and the daily view of my current city is an invaluable source of positive energy for the day.

Brain Foods–Blueberries, tomatoes, eggs, spinach and fish are my favorite healthy foods. Sticking to these foods are a must for keeping me focused on my daily tasks and my energies up and positive.

Avoid the News Feed–As I’ve mentioned in my Day #1 post, being distracted is a notable annoyance. Facebook and other news sites are frequent distractions. To me, making a solid effort to avoid the New Feeds is a must for staying on task. I don’t wish to cast off Facebook 100% though – it’s a way I can communicate with clients as well as promote TopTia. I will say, the Facebook Messenger App does help in eliminating the News Feed. The app allows me to communicate with my clients distraction free. Meaning, the task of staying off the Facebook News Feed is a task of my own effort. Perhaps I can limit my Facebook time to two 10 minute visits per day.

Avoid Getting Stuck in the Chair–Often times at the beginning of the day and before bed, I sit very comfortably at my desk. With my drink of choice and my feet nestled in the chair with me, I can remain content doing work, talking with friends and family, or on YouTube for a nice bit of time. I assume minimizing “chair” time will add 20 to 30 much-needed minutes to my work day. This is a habit I hope to have.

As you can see, this isn’t really an itinerary of how to go about my successful day. This post is merely a list of habits I should adhere to so that my days–no matter how various the schedule–can be successful.

For Day #4 Natalie has asked us to identify our sweet spot for how we can utilize our unique and personal talents, enjoy those talents and perhaps generate a revenue from said talents. Now, as a photographer, I would clearly say that I am good at photography, I enjoy photography, and I can earn a living doing photography. I could do that, but this blog post wouldn’t be very long.

I decided to eliminate the obvious and look a bit deeper. A bit more personal. If I were not a photographer, what would my superpowers be? When I finished reading the instructions for the post, I had no idea what my superpowers were. As a young –or kind of young–person finding my place in the world, my whole mindset was, “What kind of superpowers do I want, and what can I do to get them?” I’d never really considered myself already in possession of a superpower.

So I asked those in my inner circle and received some excellent answers, ones I’d never even consider. Here are a few.

Tia’s Superpowers:

Has the ability to connect with people and leave a memorable impression.

Has the ability to commit.

Possesses an infectious spirit and positive energy.

Those three answers really helped me paint a clear picture of myself and how to better use myself. With each answer I could identify moments where I enjoyed connecting with new friends, fought hard to stick to my commitments, and displayed a positive attitude, no matter what kind of day I’d had earlier. I want to amplify these powers.

By being more impressionable, committed, and positive, I feel these attributes will add to my clients’ experience of having their photos taken. Yes a good end product, AKA a good photo, is what is important for the client. But what about how the client feels while striving towards that goal? Many do not consider the pressures clients have during their own photo session. It’s actually a team effort for the photographer and the client or model. However, as the director, using my “powers” relaxes and gives confidence to the client. That could be a great way to differentiate TopTia Photography from other studios.